In the manufacture of cans for use as containers, such as beverage containers and particularly when the cans are formed from aluminum, the manufacturing processes generally employed produce a can body which at one stage has a longitudinal length greater than that desired for future operations to form a finished can body ready to receive an end cap. Also, the top edge portions of the can bodies are irregularly shaped. Therefore, it is necessary that a portion of the sidewall of the can body be removed so as to produce a can body having a proper longitudinal length. The most conventional methods for trimming a portion of the can body utilize knives or cutting edges in various ways in which there is relative rotation between the can body and the cutting edge. Although these methods are used in commercial operations, there are problems associated with these methods, many of which are associated with the relative rotation between the can body and the cutting edge.